Monsters and morality in The Witcher
The world created by Andrzej Sapkowski is richly filled with various life forms which clash and interact throughout the novels. Many of them are identical to one’s in the world we live in, some are based on mythical and cultural archetypes, whereas, others are purely offspring of the author's vivid imagination. As the story develops the reader can find himself wondering who in fact are the real monsters - Strigas, Wyverns and Kikimores or humans and other higher races? These mingling characteristics of good and evil are a prominent feature of Sapkowski’s prose. Definition of a monster At the first glance monsters could be distinguished from other creatures by taking under consideration two primary criteria: dissimilarity to humans and lack of sentience or obvious intelligence. Witchers are monster-hunters who receive special training and have their bodies modified at an early age to provide them with supernatural abilities so they can cope with the most dangerous species and enemies. The side effect of these modifications is said to be complete lack of human emotions (which turns out to be false as the story develops). However, Geralt has his own set of guidelines for judging what constitutes a monster – he decided upon not killing (or at least he tries to do so) creatures which have consciousness and feelings. Furthermore, Witchers divide monsters into two groups – the ones which can be killed with steel sword and the later which can be damaged only by silver. Most magical beasts cannot bear it. Other metrics he uses include intent and circumstance. Geralt lives in a morally ambiguous universe, yet he manages to maintain his own coherent code of ethics. Overall, the witcher is very careful in his classification of creatures into monsters and non-monsters. Ambiguity of monster's nature Some creatures, like Striga, are themselves in some ways victims. A striga is a woman transformed into a monster by a curse. When she is under the influence of the hex she is filled with hatred towards all living beings, devouring them without a second thought. The well-documented example of a striga's lifetime was that of Adda the White, daughter of Foltest, king of Temeria. She was cursed prior to her birth, then died shortly after labour and turned into a striga. She and her mother, who also did not survive birth, were laid to rest in a single tomb. For seven years she grew inside the sarcophagus, only to emerge as a creature of predatory instinct with the size and skill to carry it out. In order to lift the curse from its victim, "someone must prevent the striga from returning to her coffin by the third crowing of the rooster. Then she would be cured, turning into an ordinary little girl". Furthermore, the term ‘monster’ has a strong, pejorative connotation of something evil can be misleading. The ideas of intelligence and consciousness seem to be a crucial point of the problem. The majority of monsters in the world of the Witcher novels are presented simply as animals, although different from anything we might know from our world, but nonetheless they behave and act according to laws of nature. And as such reveal another subversion of the traditional approach to fantasy in the presentation of monsters and fantastic creatures as embodiments of human traits.